Directors Guild Offers Talks, Complicating Writers' Strike

MICHAEL CIEPLY
New York Times

Movie and television directors said Thursday that they were prepared to begin bargaining toward a new contract with production companies after the New Year holiday, a move that could realign Hollywood's troubled labor front.

The contract between the Directors Guild of America, which represents about 13,500 directors and associated production workers, and the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers, an industry bargaining group, is to expire on June 30.